refraining

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

v. Present participle of refrain.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. The singing of the burden of a song.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Examples

Congress could have reasonably concluded that federal inmates who suffer from a mental illness that causes them to “have serious difficulty in refraining from sexually violent conduct,” would pose an especially high danger to the public if released.

The basic idea of the fast, and of fasting in general (at least as I understand it) is to practice self-denial, develop discipline, and exercise an ability of which only humans, of all animals, are capable -- refraining from a desired good.

At a different level of development, the interest in avoiding these harms might be much greater relative to the cost of refraining from the behaviors that impose them, and we might say that there is such a duty and right.

Abstinence merely means refraining from something, like refraining from snacks during Lent; refraining is not the same thing as practicing virtue, and abstinence is not the same thing as chastity, a much better word.

Our Prime Minister, speaking the other day in the capital of France, while wisely refraining from a similar comment, cited it as an example of how international difficulties could be composed without recourse to arms.

This young man, being ignorant of painting, limited himself to explaining the subjects as best he could, and I had difficulty in refraining from laughter when, before a picture representing Psyche, being unable to pronounce the name, he gave me the information, "That is Fiché."